The impact of climate change on bacteria

Global climate change will not only affect plants and animals, but also affect bacteria, fungi and other bacterial populations - microorganisms that exhibit countless important functions for life on. Earth. It is still not quite sure what those effects will be, but it may not be profitable, according to researchers at a scientific conference in Boston.

Kathleen Treseder of the University of California Irvine spoke at the 108th plenary conference of the American Society of Microbiology: "The bacteria show a multitude of important functions for such ecosystems. gender, and we are just beginning to be aware of the effects of global climate change on them. '

Treseder investigated the effects of rising temperatures and fungi on carbon emissions in Alaskan northern forests - an area on Earth that is experiencing higher warming than other regions.

Treseder said: 'There are many dead objects frozen under the ice. Carbon dioxide is trapped in the soil in the northern ecological areas as much as carbon in the atmosphere. '

She began her research with the hypothesis that rising temperatures would cause fungal decay to increase. Because the byproduct of decay is CO ₂ , the increased temperature will cause more CO2 in the soil to be released. What she found was that the amount of nitrogen gas in the soil increased as the temperature increased, and the nitrogen gas tended to prevent the decay of fungi.

Treseder said: 'In fact, when the temperature rises, we see more nitrogen gas in the soil. Nitrogen gas prevents range of activity and diversity. What we no longer see is that when the temperature rises, CO ₂ is made less from fungi in northern ecosystems. '

Rising temperatures also affect snowpacks and glaciers, and that could be harmful to populations living below them. Steven Schmidt of the University of Colorado and colleagues are studying other populations of microorganisms that live in areas below freezing below glaciers.

Schmidt said: 'As the global climate increases and the glaciers withdraw water, these microorganisms no longer live. Maybe they will be genocide before we can study them and have a good idea of ​​their contributions. '

(Photo: www.chbr.noaa.gov)

He is also studying bacterial activity below the snow and ice in coniferous forests. At the end of winter, the activity of the bacteria below the snow is very intense, because the snowpack provides the ideal temperature and humidity for the development of snow mold layers. For ordinary suburban people, snow mold might be just another disease that damages the lawn, but in the coniferous forest ecosystem, these mold layers hold an important function.

Snow mold grows extremely fast at very low temperatures - below freezing, and contributes about 10-30% of the year in producing CO2 in these places, Schmidt said.

Snow mold needs 1 or 2 months at a relatively low temperature to perform its tasks effectively. When global temperatures rise, the period of time below the freezing temperature will be shortened, as well as the snow and ice layers may be less.

Schmidt said: 'As the soil warms, snow mold will have less water and will produce less CO2 - considering the warming of the global climate it seems good, but the trees in this system also depends on snow-melting water and will eventually die under extreme dryness, thus leading to a total reduction in the carbon footprint of the system. Trees may die. In general, it will probably get worse. '

"While rising temperatures can reduce the production of carbon dioxide in bacteria, increasing the amount of carbon dioxide produced by human activity can produce these," said John Kelly of Loyola University in Chicago. Small but important changes in the composition of bacterial populations. "

Kelly is studying the effects of increasing CO ₂ on bacterial populations on leaves in northern Michigan and in decaying leaves in streams, and has noticed a clear change. remarkably in some bacterial populations. This can have a huge effect on the food chain, but otherwise a source of nutrients for small animals to eat these leaves.

Treseder said: 'The bacteria really seem very sensitive to global changes. We are not entirely sure how they will react. '